when planning my trip to the east coast i started asking around for friends’ favorite spots to eat and drink. Red Bamboo came up undoubtedly every single time. i’m talking even from omnivores. so after walking around all day in the rain and having a few beers we strolled on over in anticipation of a great meal. we walked in and there were already several people waiting before us but fortunately for our empty tummies we only had to wait about 10 minutes. the seating was a little close for my taste but what’s new in new york city?

for dinner my partner went with tonkatsu “chops” that were served with steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes. the faux meat was breaded and covered in sauce (as the traditional meal is done) and was pretty tasty. the texture of the “chops” in my mouth was really smooth and unlike other fake meats i’ve had.

900 Degrees in NYC is amazing. It’s just over a month old and they have a few options on the menu for vegetarians and vegans. Some pizzas are not on the menu, but are totally vegan and totally amazing.

we get a lot of field reports here on the blog from all over the place, and i think this one has to be my favorite of all. jon sent us this post from john’s of 12th street in nyc, an italian restaurant that’s been around for over a century and recently added a separate vegan menu. i’m kinda freaking out. i seriously can’t wait to get to manhattan and hit this place up ASAP!

Basically, John’s has been around for 103 years – very old school NYC Italian restaurant. About 1.5-2 years ago, they decided to make some changes and introduced an entirely separate vegan menu, which includes separate vegan cooking utensils (whaaaaat?!).

Vegan Garlic Bread

They didn’t half-ass anything, either. They brought in vegan authors to learn about veganism and the chefs tinkered with recipes until they were 100% perfect and worthy of being served.

hey everyone! time for a quick bite from patricia’s recent trip to the east coast. since she’s such a regular blogger around here, i’ve set her up with her own user name. check it out above, the author of this entry is “trishells”! hope you enjoy all her posts in the future, and this one about atlas cafe in nyc!

when i walked into atlas cafe i thought my brain was going to explode. look at that menu:

LOOK AT IT! and that was only one wall. on the opposite wall was another chalk board filled with just as many different items. i didn’t even allow myself to look at the whole menu i just found the thing that seemed least typical for me to get in la and stuck with it: vegan pepper steak panini. it was pretty good but not amazing.

update 5/18/11: turns out the “soy bacon” on the village natural burger isn’t vegan! the restaurant is aware of this and is supposedly changing the menu. full update at the bottom of the post. meanwhile: beware.

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hey guys! i’m happy to announce we have a field report today from a legit writer—can you believe it? simon goddard, music journalist extraordinaire and author of the mozipedia (one of our favorite books, look!), penned us this post about his culinary adventures in manhattan. from pizza and burgers to vegan fish and chips…i want it all. enjoy!

Oh, New York! It’s a bit of a temptress. I’m a fiercely loyal Londoner and still every time I set foot in Manhattan I have my doubts as to which is the greatest city on earth. As the song goes, I like the sight, the sound and even the stink of it. In London we have signs which read “No parking, clamping in operation.” In Manhattan they have signs which read “Don’t even THINK of parking here.” Therein lies the singular genius of New York, a masterpiece of concrete, clay and invincible human character.

I digress. I was lucky enough to be working there again this month so promised the estimable Quarrygirl I’d scribble some words for her blog about a few of the nicer things I put in my mouth. And here they are. Whenever in New York, I almost always end up in Greenwich Village at some point, if only for a sneaky stroke of the Bleecker Street Records cat (irresistible) or to marvel at the 300 year-old English Elm in Washington Square (unbelievable). So for all similarly besotted cat-botherers and tree-huggers who may find themselves in the area hankering for impeccable death-free nibbles, here are three personal recommendations.

For years this has been my favourite vegetarian spot in New York, even if I’ve always been in the daytime when it’s fairly quiet and “vibes” are minimal (it’s a bit “yoga” if you know what I mean) but the food seldom disappoints. It’s Vietnamese-owned though the menu ranges from Asian to salads, burgers and Mexican dishes. I’ve tried various mains here, but you can’t beat the burgers.

My favourite is this black-bean burger. It comes open with a dollop of guacamole, a generous fresh salad topped with a strip of crispy veggie bacon***(read update below) brought vigorously to life by a side of orange and ginger dressing. As a meal it strikes a perfect balance between guilty “bad” burger food (and it is a glorious big, flat, more-ish monster of a burger) and enriching “good” healthy salad: you definitely don’t miss fries.

The only disappointment this visit was dessert. In the past they’ve done the most amazing vegan tiramisu, probably the best I’ve ever tasted and one that I’ve all but sadistically enthused about to Quarrygirl to jealousy-inducing extremes. Alas, for whatever reason it wasn’t an option on the blackboard this time. To compensate, I ordered the vegan mocha pie which looked like this:

Mocha Pie. $4.95

It had a porridgy-base, a chalky texture and altogether tasted like somebody had dropped a triangle of brown shoe polish on some oatmeal, then tried to make it smell better by administering a few extra squirts of Tweed by Lentheric. That is, it was cloggy with a wretched perfumed hue and not remotely mocha-ish. If their tiramisu was a 10, the mocha pie just scraped a 2. But despite this Hindenburg of sweet catastrophes, the sometimes slow-to-react zombiefied waiters and the sad fact they serve a handful of fish options, I still rate this place highly. I just pray they get that tiramisu back on their menu before I next darken its door.

if you’re a longtime reader of this blog, you may remember that candle 79 in NYC is one of our favorite restaurants ever. well as it turns out, the fancy uptown restaurant has a casual little brother located just a few blocks away called candle cafe. we visited the 3rd avenue eatery on our most recent trip to manhattan, and found that while ambiance is a bit dressed down compared to candle 79, the food is incredible and indistinguishable.

Recently the Hubz and I finally made it to Angelica Kitchen, a restaurant that has been on my “To Try” list for years. We met up with my girlfriend Cate for lunch at noon which was perfect timing because the place filled up quickly and within 20 minutes there was a long waiting list. It took a while or us to make a decision as to what we wanted to get because there are so many really yummy sounding dishes on the menu…

hey peeps! time for another nyc field report from jl goes vegan. i’m loving her reports because they’re all so honest…especially this one. enjoy:

Recently on Twitter my friend Noelle, planning a trip to NYC, asked for a restaurant recommendation that was friendly to the omnivore, the vegetarian and the vegan. I suggested Josie’s East, based on my previous dining experiences with my omnivore husband when I was a vegetarian (not vegan), as we both have enjoyed several delicious, “comfort food” dinners there.

Over the weekend Noelle coordinated a blogger meet-up at Josie’s East for brunch. Turns out, only the vegans showed up. We may have been better off dining somewhere else.

There are only a few items on the menu that are completely vegan. I ordered one of them, the Organic Three Grain Vegetable Cheeseburger.

hey peeps! time for a field report on one of my favorite foods ever: NYC PIZZA! this one comes to us from blogger JL goes vegan, as she reports on the super vegan-friendly west village pizzeria, slice. i am booking a trip to manhattan as you read this. no joke!

I attended the NYC book signing party for The Happy Herbivore Cookbook which was held at SLICE (on Hudson Street). I’ve been dying to have a slice of SLICE’s vegan pizza!

vegan field report time! this one comes to us again from kris of veganscraps. she’s done us the favor of reviewing yet another awesome NYC vegan find, v-note. enjoy!

So, today I made my way over to 1st avenue on the Upper East Side to try a new vegan restaurant called “V-Note“, which is partly owned by the same owner as the Blossom restaurants (Cafe Blossom UWS/Blossom Chelsea). I love the Blossom restaurants so I had to try this one and review it.

hey everyone! today’s field report comes to us from nyc where kris from veganscraps has reviewed one of the city’s best kept secrets, jivamuktea cafe. the all vegan spot looks like a haven for tasty yet healthy eats, and i can’t wait to hit it up. great find!

After discovering JivamukTea Cafe a couple of months ago, I find myself going in to eat at least 3 times a week! This cafe is one of the hidden gems of NYC. JivamukTea Cafe is part of the JivamukTea Yoga Studio in Union Square. You would have no way of knowing this fantastic cafe existed unless someone told you (this is me telling you!).

i’m not gonna lie, this is one of the best field reports ever and it’s about my favorite food group: PIZZA. Aj aka QueerVeganRunner sent us this post about authentic nyc-style pizza from cafe viva in new york. if this doesn’t have you drooling, i dunno what will. damn, i wish we had a place like this in los angeles! in one visit, she ate FIVE different kinds of vegan pizza BY THE SLICE. amazing. here ya go:

I love LA. But, in my heart (and in my attitude), I am a New Yorker. And to me, and to any real New Yorker, there’s nothing like a slice. To qualify that slice with an “of pizza” automatically disqualifies you from the “real New Yorker” club. Back in my pre-enlightenment days, I swore up and down for Famous Ray’s Original. But Ray’s has not caught on that non-vegan food has gone the way of hookers and crack in Times Square, so passé. Luckily real New Yorkers and tourists can enjoy Original Café Viva (why the original in every pizzeria’s name?). And lucky for me, they are spitting distance from my parents’ apartment.